The firelight illuminated the night forest.
This was another forest area on the outskirts of Tengu City, a quiet forest far away from the city. Its location, separated by the bustling downtown area, was exactly opposite the forest where Shido was.
It was originally a secluded forest, and with the massive fire caused by the lightning strike in the forest on the other side of the city drawing the citizens' attention, no one noticed the changes here.
The source of the fire here wasn't dead wood ignited by lightning, nor a campfire left by campers. It was fuel leaking from a crashed giant transport plane.
"Ara,ara~"
With a small sigh of exclamation, Tokisaki Kurumi slowly walked out from the dark shadows cast by the firelight.
"I originally planned to ambush them in front of the DEM facility. I didn't expect them to crash in a place like this."
Observing the transport plane, which had been reduced to scrap tal, with a thoughtful look, Kurumi pondered for a mont, then picked up a piece of debris from the ground.
"Zafkiel—Yud (Tenth Bullet)."
Shadow filled the chamber, turning into a bullet. Kurumi placed the debris between herself and the muzzle, then pulled the trigger without hesitation. Instantly, the concentrated shadow penetrated the debris and hit Kurumi's head.
Neither the debris nor Kurumi's head suffered any damage. However, in exchange, the scenes experienced by the debris turned into mories and presented themselves in Kurumi's mind.
"I see, so that's what happened."
A smile couldn't help but curve on Kurumi's lips.
In the mory, inside the steadily flying transport plane, the originally calm "Material A" was constantly trembling as if kicking in the womb. Imdiately after, it was hit by a giant pillar of light fired from a facility on the ground, and then crashed here.
"So it was Shido-san's doing. To think we'd be connected in such an unexpected place."
After hearing about the situation on Shido's side from her clones, Kurumi, having sorted out the cause and effect, sighed with emotion.
"The Second Spirit sensed Shido-san's spirit wave from inside the transport plane and called for his help... And unluckily, Shido-san happened to be in the unstable phase of Spirit power congestion. As a result, he couldn't suppress the Spirit power within his body and went berserk. If that's the case, he really caused quite a lot of trouble for Yutsuki-san and the others."
But obviously, arbitrarily blaming this on the other party was aningless. Locked inside a shipping container, she clearly didn't know Shido's situation. The other party's intention was rely to escape, and there was no reason for anyone to condemn her.
"But regardless—I didn't expect to be helped by Shido-san in the end."
Even though Kurumi had already ambushed nurous clones at the transport plane's possible landing sites, and even without this accident, she would have been able to snatch the Second Spirit. However, considering she achieved her goal while avoiding massive casualties, Kurumi should consider herself indebted to Shido.
"Alright,Spirit-san. Let see what you look like."
With steps carrying a bit of anticipation, Kurumi arrived at the rear of the transport plane. However, to her disappointnt, the shipping container was already empty.
"Nightmare!"
Hearing a voice seemingly calling her by chance, Kurumi turned her head and saw Shido's sister, Takamiya Mana, flying towards her with a murderous aura.
"Hah... Although it's not entirely satisfactory, it can't be helped. I'll retreat for now this ti."
Although she really wanted to conduct a carpet search in the vicinity, the Wizard before her obviously wouldn't let her wander around freely. Wasting unnecessary ti with the other party was clearly not a wise choice.
Left with no choice, Kurumi could only sigh in disappointnt and obediently choose to retreat.
"Don't run!"
Landing at the crash site of the transport plane, Mana scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes. Tokisaki Kurumi had already slipped into the shadows and disappeared. Finding her in this dark forest was clearly impossible.
"Damn it, she got away."
Mana couldn't help but scratch her hair in frustration.
Not long ago, she was still engaged in a dogfight with Ellen Mira Mathers, but midway, the other party seemingly received orders from higher-ups and retreated.
Having completed her task of buying ti, Mana originally planned to rush to Kotori's side to help her brother. However, by the ti she arrived, the problem there had already been resolved. Mana had now accepted Yutsuki-nee's request to head to this area and investigate any anomalies.
But honestly, the reason Mana was so murderous the mont she saw Kurumi was less about accumulated grudges from the past and more about wanting to vent the frustration in her heart.
Even now, the na spoken by Shido still caused ripples in her mind.
"...That Mio. Who exactly is she..."
While investigating the wreckage of the transport plane, Mana muttered softly.
—————————
Woodman's side was currently in an uproar.
No, more accurately, the three committee mbers at the round table eting in front of him were in an uproar.
The reason wasn't about Itsuka Shido's rampaging, which had already subsided, nor was it about the sudden appearance of Phantom. Even Kleinthon, who had privately harbored the activation device for and should have been in the position of being accused, seed to have forgotten his recent actions and was rioting uneasily over another matter.
Just now, , which should have locked onto Itsuka Shido, completely ignored Tengu City in Japan and launched attacks at three completely different areas on Earth.
And those three areas happened to be the residential zones of Kleinthon, Walrunstead, and Douglas—the three mbers of the roundtable eting.
Although the three blasts ultimately hit deserted suburbs, causing neither casualties nor property damage, this wasn't a reason to feel relieved.
For the three committee mbers who generally disliked showing their faces in public, this felt exactly like soone pressing a gun to the back of their heads without anyone noticing, and then firing a blank right next to their temples. Honestly, even Woodman himself would probably break out in a cold sweat.
(You've really given a difficult problem, that Spirit.)
Woodman clutched his forehead with a headache.
Although on the surface, this incident seed to be the work of the two artificial Spirits on Kotori's airship, anyone with a bit of thought could figure it out. Being able to learn of Ratatoskr's top-secret satellite weapon , and being able to crack that impenetrable, virtually unsolvable firewall, the hacking thods required to alter the satellite's attack coordinates were absolutely not sothing artificial intelligences could accomplish on their own.
There was only one possible suspect: the most dangerous Spirit to humanity, who had already been sealed by Itsuka Shido—Hacker.
Since he could think of it, there was no reason these old foxes wouldn't realize it too.
For an already sealed Spirit to still bare such dangerous fangs... one could easily imagine the feelings of the three n at this mont.
A Spirit originally defined as safe was relabeled as dangerous. This undoubtedly put Woodman, who advocated protecting Spirits, in a very difficult position. In the worst-case scenario, not just Ryougi Yutsuki, but even Yatogami Tohka and the others would lose their right to live in the normal world.
"Chairman Woodman."
Just as Woodman was agonizing over how to protect Ryougi Yutsuki, Karen, who had been waiting quietly behind him, suddenly ca to his side.
"What is it?"
"Just now, an email was received in your private inbox."
"Hm?"
Opening his inbox with so confusion, Woodman's eyes widened involuntarily in the next mont.
"Th-This is—"
...
[We've investigated clearly. Indeed, during the autumn period, there were sighting reports of Hacker received from the Fraxinus.]
[So this really was Hacker's doing?!]
Hearing Douglas's words, in the projection, Kleinthon slamd his fist hard on the table and let out an angry roar.
[I'm afraid it was during that infiltration into the virtual world. Hacker took advantage of DEM's invasion, while Itsuka Shido and the Spirits were trapped in the computer world, to hack into through the airship's computers. There's no other possibility.]
[Honestly, to actually let soone infiltrate her own airship, what exactly is Commander Itsuka doing!]
[Well, we can't bla all the mistakes on Commander Itsuka. She is, after all, just a fourteen year old middle schooler; it's inevitable she'll make mistakes sotis. More importantly, what we need to discuss right now is the issue concerning Hacker.]
Smiling to calm the furiously irritable Kleinthon, Walrunstead superficially acted the part of a good guy, smoothing things over for Itsuka Kotori. In reality, he was deliberately steering the conversation towards the most dangerous direction.
[You have a point.]
Douglas nodded in agreent.
[Although I've always felt vaguely uneasy before, I never expected Hacker to be able to control . Even after being sealed, the most dangerous Spirit remains the most dangerous Spirit. If we just leave her to live in human society, heaven knows what deadly actions she might take.]
[Imprisonnt! We absolutely must imprison her! I've always been against letting such a dangerous creature wander around human society, and now you've seen the results. I don't want to have a gun constantly pointed at my head! Alternatively, while she's currently sealed, we should just—]
[Committee mber Kleinthon. Please restrain yourself from such rash remarks. We are not like those guys at DEM.]
[Ugh—]
After shutting Kleinthon up, a sly smile appeared on the corner of Walrunstead's mouth. Putting on an impartial and selfless face, he continued.
[However, what you said does have so truth to it. Judging from the potential threat Hacker displayed this ti, the current lax control is indeed showing little effect. And it's not just Hacker; I'm worried the other Spirits might also exhibit similar potential dangers. We can't let our guard down just because their Spirit power is sealed. Although it doesn't need to go as far as imprisonnt, we definitely need to renegotiate the issue of controlling the Spirits—]
"That's enough. Walrunstead, just because I stayed silent for a mont, you took the liberty of continuing the topic. Planning to bring the Spirits and Shido under your control, aren't you? You're quite calculating."
Seeing his passionate speech interrupted midway, Walrunstead wasn't angry. He put on a confused expression and looked at Woodman.
[What are you talking about? Chairman Woodman, I am very seriously discussing a solution with everyone present. This is also for the sake of Ratatoskr's future.]
"Hmph, let's just pretend that's the case. However, compared to dealing with Hacker, I have a more serious matter here that needs to be discussed with everyone."
Sweeping a cold glance over the three of them, Woodman snorted coldly. He distributed the files attached to his email to each of the three n.
Looking at the files appearing before them, the three n exchanged glances, seeing the confusion and apprehension in each other's eyes. Clearly, they had no idea what Woodman was up to.
Opening the files in their hands, the expressions of Kleinthon, Walrunstead, and Douglas—without exception—turned a deadly grey.
[Th-This is... Where on earth did you get...]
[Impossible! This is impossible! I definitely handled those matters perfectly. Why do you have these things!?]
[...This is a ridiculous joke. To have these things and only bring them out now, have you been playing us for fools from the very beginning? Chairman Woodman.]
As the saying goes, all crows in the world are black (people with power are often corrupt). This principle also applies perfectly to humans.
Standing opposite evil does not necessarily represent justice.
Power, wealth, status. The more these things accumulate, the more one's desires inflate, and simultaneously, one's moral bottom line lowers. To remain uncorrupted while holding a high position is difficult, extrely difficult.
It could be said with absolute certainty that the things these three n had done were not much cleaner than DEM Industries.
Right now, what Woodman handed them was intel sufficient to instantly crush everything they had accumulated so far, or rather, intel capable of easily destroying what they valued most.
If Hacker manipulating the satellite's attack to fire a blank next to their heads was a warning shot, then Woodman's move was piercing through their flesh, bypassing their blood vessels, and accurately gripping their hearts.
"Where did these co from?"
Looking at the three n exposing their ugly sides, Woodman sneered, speaking as if mocking their ignorance.
"Weren't you guys just having a heated discussion about her a mont ago?"
[...Her?]
[Could it be...]
[Hacker...!]
Hearing Woodman's words, the three of them seemingly thought of sothing and widened their eyes in surprise.
Why did the artificial satellite manipulated by the hacker aim at the three committee mbers present at the round table, but excluded Chairman Woodman?
Why did Woodman possess intel that only a hacker could possibly obtain?
The three had actually noticed this incongruity early on, but until just now, they hadn't thought in that direction.
[Hacker... is actually your pawn, Woodman?]
Woodman neither confird nor denied the question. Letting the three guess as they pleased, he said calmly:
"Rest assured, I have no intention of making this intel public. At least, not right now. Although I don't expect you to obey my every word, I ask that you at least honor your own agreents. Otherwise, then I have my own plans."
[.........]
"Notice of Kleinthon's disciplinary action will be given later... Oh, that's right. The channels to obtain that activation device are extrely limited. I imagine you, Walrunstead, secretly had a hand in it too. After an investigation is conducted, I will notify you of your disciplinary action as well."
No one raised any objections to Woodman's words. They all knew that with the other party holding Hacker, an almost rule-breaking trump card, they were destined to never be able to hold their heads high in front of Woodman again.
...
"Phew... I'm exhausted."
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Woodman couldn't help but sigh with lingering fear.
When was the last ti he sweat nervously like this? This question popped into his mind, and Woodman shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Using Hacker as my pawn? You think too highly of ... I don't have that much capacity."
"Elliot..."
"I'm fine, Karen."
Seeing the worried look from his secretary, Woodman waved his hand to show he was okay.
Reopening his inbox, Woodman scrolled down to the postscript at the end of the email.
[Because you are Kotori's boss. Therefore, I chose to trust you, and I hope you won't disappoint . Forr DEM Wizard—Elliot Woodman.]
Honestly, the mont he saw this sentence, Woodman almost had the sa thought as Kleinthon.
"In order to prevent one's own danger from being taken seriously, one finds soone else to graft the fear towards oneself onto. Thereby shifting everyone's attention away..."
Although it wasn't explicitly stated in the email, everything Ryougi Yutsuki had done clearly conveyed her intentions to Woodman.
"I used to think 'the most dangerous Spirit' was a forced slander by others. Now it seems, it's not entirely without basis..."
Hacker, no—Ryougi Yutsuki. It's truly fortunate she isn't an enemy. From the bottom of his heart, Woodman felt genuinely glad right now.
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